Landing a Robot on a Comet

Today, the European Space Agency landed a probe on a comet that moves through our solar system. Comet 67P/Churyumov – Gerasimenko now contains a hitchhiker. These pictures show the approach.

As great as that achievement is in and of itself, there is something I find even more amazing. From what I’ve found using Google, the comet is hurtling through space at just over 18 kilometers per second. The Earth averages 30 km/s on its travel around the sun. As a reminder, that is kilometers per second. PER SECOND!

They fired the bullet of Rosetta from the Earth, moving 30 km/s, at a comet, moving 18 km/s, AND THEY FIRED THE SHOT 10 YEARS AGO! And I recently saw that the plan for this experiment was thought up 21 years ago.

21 years ago, scientists knew that in 11 years, they would need to fire a bullet that would need to sail around the inner solar system for a few years, go into hibernation, come out of hibernation and hit a comet moving at 41,127 miles per hour TEN YEARS AFTER THEY LAUNCHED IT.